I started drawing as a child at the side of my grandmother, a painter and sculptress. We'd take the train from her Brooklyn home to Coney Island Beach and sketch the unsuspecting sunbathers. After a few years' architecture study (Cornell) and art in London, I graduated (BFA) from CCA, Oakland, California.
In London, a friend showed me books of fairy tales illustrated by Arthur Rackham and an early 'Alice' illustrated by Tenniel. These works ignited my desire to illustrate for children. As an architectural draftsperson at that time, I filled the margins of my blueprints with fairy tale sketches.

My first published works were for educational publishers in the SF Bay Area. From 1987-97 I lived in Hamburg, Germany, where I illustrated my first picture book, 'Mrs. Peachtree and the 8th Avenue Cat' written by Erica Silverman. I had just started 'The Blue Hill Meadows' by Cynthia Rylant when my son was born in 1994, and soon after I was back at the drawing board working on a second Mrs. Peachtree book, 'Mrs. Peachtree's Bicycle,' followed by 'The 18 Penny Goose,' 'The Promise Quilt' by Candice F. Ransom, and an adaptation of 'Anne of Green Gables,' among others. In 2002-4, the Pets to the Rescue ready-to-read nonfiction series by Andrew Clements was released. My new book, 'The Christmas Coat' by Native American author Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve, tells a true story from the author's life, set on the Rosebud Reservation, South Dakota, winter 1945.